


where you invest your love.

by katarama



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Meetings, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-12 23:59:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5686636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katarama/pseuds/katarama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kira walks through the door and stops dead in her tracks; Derek peers over her head to see two boys near the back of the classroom, making out.</p><p>“Scott and Stiles?” he asks wryly.  </p><p>“Yup,” Kira says.</p>
            </blockquote>





	where you invest your love.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kristsune](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kristsune/gifts).



Derek isn’t nervous when he walks into school.  He doesn’t know if that’s a bad thing or not; Peter spent the entire morning trying to psych him out, and Laura looked like she was considering joining him, but opted for throwing the kitchen towel at Peter’s head, instead.  Derek doesn’t see how high school can be much different than middle school, really.  He has friends that are going to the same high school as him, so he won’t be alone.  The classes will be harder, and there will be a new basketball team to try out for, but that doesn’t scare him, really.  He’s okay with working hard, and even without his werewolf abilities, he thinks he’s pretty good on a basketball court.  He’s not even afraid of getting lost in his new high school; he’s been there enough times, for Laura’s soccer games and band performances, that he sort of knows his way around.  

He puts his sweater on that morning, covering the soulmate mark on each wrist, the wolf on one wrist and the fox on the other.  He eats a big breakfast, brushes his teeth, and considers himself ready.  Cora doesn’t appear until the absolute last minute; her outfit is cute and obviously carefully planned and very un-Cora.  Derek knows it will probably only last a week before she goes back to the clothes that make her more comfortable, but it’s the first day in a new place.

Cora’s just relieved the two of them aren’t in the same homeroom, anymore, like they were both years of middle school.  She’s always insisted that Derek is the dorky twin, and thinks that if he spends too much time in her vicinity, then her (naturally) awesome soulmate will never find her.

Derek is neutral on whether Cora’s in his homeroom, but he’s excited that Kira _is_.  Kira’s excited about it, too.  Not only are Derek and her soulmate, Malia, in her homeroom, but two other names she recognizes.

“Scott and Stiles are awesome,” she tells Derek as they walk down the hall together.  “I knew them back in my old grade school.  Scott was really cute and had floppy hair, even though he had asthma and always had to sit out when we played kickball.  Stiles didn’t like me, at first, I don’t think, because I accidentally tripped over one of their pranks, but he let me play with them, anyway, because Scott said they both did the same thing all the time.  But I switched schools, and I only ever see them on facebook, now.”

“They sound close,” Derek comments, opening the door to the classroom, and Kira perks up, ready to share whatever gossip she has.  She walks through the door and stops dead in her tracks; Derek peers over her head to see two boys near the back of the classroom, making out.

“Scott and Stiles?” he asks wryly.  He doesn’t watch; it feels weird and voyeuristic, staring at the two admittedly attractive strangers mashing their faces.  Averting his eyes seems like the polite thing to do.  

“Yup,” Kira says.  She looks much less surprised than Derek is, though she loses a bit of the skip in her step from before.  “Maybe I should wait to say hi?”

“I think so,” Derek agrees.  Kira picks seats in front of them and settles in, Derek plopping down next to her.  Derek keeps feeling the urge to glance back at the two of them, to see if they’re still kissing, but he keeps his eyes fixed on Kira.

Things get shaken up, of course, when Malia comes in.  She takes one look at Scott and Stiles and marches over, slams her hand on a desk and makes the paler one with longer hair jump (“Stiles,” Kira mouths).  “Are you gonna make out all through homeroom, or are you gonna say hi?”

“Hi Malia,” Scott says sheepishly.  Stiles looks put out that the kissing stopped, but when Kira waves at him and Malia gives him a hug, a smile creeps onto his face.

“Hi,” Derek says, ready to get the introduction part over with, since even his cousin knows who these people are.  He doesn’t mind new people, and he figures that he’ll be around the two of them a lot.  Stiles looks a bit skeptical, but Derek is starting to suspect that his face just does that.  Kira and Malia don’t seem concerned by it.  “I’m Derek,” he says, waving like Kira did, making sure the sleeves of his sweater cover his wrists.  

Scott and Stiles wave back, almost completely in sync, though it’s more enthusiastic coming from Scott.  Kira’s eyes go wide, surprised, but Derek completely freezes.

Both of their wrists are totally bared, and the soulmate mark Stiles has is totally different from the soulmate mark Scott has.

Derek recognizes both marks.

“Do you have a problem?” Stiles demands, and it takes Derek a second to realize he’s addressing him.

“Your marks-” Derek starts, and Stiles’ face shutters closed.  Scott bites his lip, and Derek can already tell he’s done something tremendously wrong.  

“What, do you have a problem with the fact that we aren’t ashamed to show them?” Stiles asks.

“I- No, that’s not-”

“Or are you one of those traditionalist assholes who thinks that soulmate marks determine your whole future,” Stiles continues, “and that me and Scott aren’t made for each other just because the pictures on our skin don’t match?”

Derek ignores the questions.  He glances around the room, and sees that there are other people starting to filter in.  He steels himself; someone could see what he’s about to do, and that’s more terrifying than anything.  Soulmate marks are private.  Or, at least, they’re supposed to be.  Running around showing a soulmate mark like Scott and Stiles are isn’t just taboo, it’s considered downright… well.  Derek wouldn’t use the word, but his grandmother would call it slutty.  Controversial, is probably a more polite word for it.  Shocking.

But Derek can’t bear one of his soulmates being so angry at him, especially over this.  So Derek takes a deep breath, shoves up the sleeves of his sweater, and sticks his arms out.

Stiles’ reaction is instantaneous.  His mouth clacks shut, and Derek self-consciously covers his wrists back up, embarrassed.  “We match,” he says quietly.  “You two may not match, but…”

“We match you,” Scott says.  He glances down at the wolf on his wrist that matches perfectly with Derek’s own tattoo.  “Both of us.”

“You know this doesn’t mean anything,” Stiles warns, which Derek could’ve expected, from the way Stiles railed about soulmate marks not determining the whole future.  It hits Derek the wrong way; Stiles may have been raised in a family that doesn’t prioritize soulmate marks, but the Hales _are_  traditional that way.  Soulmates may not be forever together and may not be romantic connections, but Derek knows very few adults in his family that have found their soulmate and not stayed with them the rest of their lives.

“It doesn’t mean everything,” Scott corrects, in a voice so sure and knowing that Derek is certain there’s a story there.  Family who is unconventional, like him and Stiles, or family with a soulmate relationship that ended badly.  

“It _could_  mean something, though, right?” Derek asks.  “It can’t be a fluke if I have both of you, right?”

Scott and Stiles share a look, the kind that Cora and Laura sometimes have, where it seems like they’re having a conversation no one else understands.  Derek wants to fill the silence, because sitting there through their deliberation makes him feel itchy, but he dutifully keeps his mouth shut just a little bit longer.

Stiles sighs, and Scott nudges him with his knee.  “Fine,” Stiles says, exasperated.  “You can stick around.  For now.  But that doesn’t mean you’re with us, you’re just.  Our soulmate.  And allowed to be around us.   _For now_.”

The homeroom teacher starts taking attendance, and Derek has to turn back around.  He’s not sure how he feels about everything; it’s more than a little bit unsettling, having something that important to him, something he’s been waiting for his entire life, reduced down to something so insignificant.

Everything’s a little bit brighter, though, when he walks down the hall after homeroom and is stopped by a hand tapping at his shoulder, the flash of a wolf mark on a wrist and a tentative smile.

“You have to be patient with Stiles,” Scott says, his hands stuck in the pockets of his hoodie.  “He likes to pretend he doesn’t believe in soulmate marks, because of us, and because of my parents.  It’s why we show ours.  He thinks if he can fight everyone about it right off the bat, then he can weed out the people who don’t get us.  A lot of people don’t.  But I don’t think you’re like that.  And I think you might be right.  At least about the fact that you have both of us on your wrists not being a coincidence.  So just.  Give him some time.  Give us some time.  And we can see where this goes.”

“Thank you,” Derek says, and Scott is off, lost in the crowded hallway.  

Derek walks the rest of the way down the hall to his first class with a lot to think about, but with more hope than he had before.  Patience isn’t a quality Derek has naturally, but if it brings him close to his soulmates, he’s willing to give it a shot.

**Author's Note:**

> On tumblr [here](sleepy-skittles.tumblr.com).


End file.
